John Edwards Has Life-Threatening Condition, Doctor Says

A cardiologist says former Democratic presidential candidate and senator John Edwards has a life-threatening condition that will require surgery next month, a judge in Greensboro, N.C., announced today.

According to The Associated Press, the judge says she has two letters from the doctor about Edwards' condition. They were revealed, the wire service adds, "during a hearing Friday to consider whether the ex-North Carolina senator would go on trial later this month for alleged campaign finance violations." Edwards' attorneys sought a delay in the proceedings, and the judge postponed the trial to March 26.

He, 58, has said he did not break the law. "There's no question that I have done wrong," Edwards said the day he was indicted, and that he will regret what he did — the affair — "for the rest of my life. ... But I did not break the law and I never thought I was breaking the law."

"The judge said the doctors wrote that the condition was treatable and the former U.S. presidential candidate had a good chance of success if the course of treatment were followed. 'The letters from Mr. Edwards' physicians are pretty clear this is a serious condition,' Eagles said."